Hardscore Games

Hardscore Games is a 12-person gaming startup based in the center of Berlin. They’ve released hit games such as a Star Squad - a science fiction real-time strategy game with beautiful 3D art and fast-paced combat.

Being a 12-person company, the team at Hardscore Games wanted to keep communication overhead to a minimum. They resolve issues in person by talking to each other, rather than implementing a complicated process. Therefore, Hardscore Games needed a lightweight system to keep track of bugs and issues.

Hardscore Games’ Development Process

Development at Hardscore Games is focused around patch releases. At the beginning of the cycle, the team focuses on building new functions to the game. As they get closer to releasing the patch, they’ll focus more on fixing any outstanding issues that arise from testing the game. They prioritize issues based on the prevalence of the problem, the extent of damage that it would cause to gameplay and monetization, and on the complexity of fixing it.

« In order to ensure a smart and efficient QA process, I need to have a clear view of all known issues. Planio lets me do that without slowing me down with unnecessary complication. »

Maxim Suckow QA Manager, Hardscore Games

How Hardscore use Planio

They add any bugs found during testing to Planio as issues, set a category and select a priority before assigning it to a team member. The issue will have a headline and a description for reproduction of the bug. Hardscore Games uses the % done fields to communicate whether it’s fixed or not.

Occasionally, they’ll upload pictures into Planio. In terms of detail, the issue in Planio is a way to make a quick note describing the problem, so they don’t have to remember everything in their head.